Quezon mayor cleared of disobedience raps

MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Joselito Alega of San Francisco town in Quezon has been cleared of a criminal complaint for allegedly failing to immediately reinstate a municipal employee as ordered by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

In a 21-page decision promulgated on March 22, the Sandiganbayan’s Special Second Division said the prosecution panel of the Office of the Ombudsman failed to establish that Alega deliberately refused to follow the CSC order.

Filed by the ombudsman in August 2016, Alega was accused of refusing to reinstate Noel Castillejo as head of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).

Court records show that Alega issued a decision dismissing Castillejo on Jan. 31, 2011 for grave misconduct, gross dishonesty, falsification of official documents and conduct grossly prejudicial to the best interest of the service over supposed anomalies in the implementation the municipal government’s cash assistance program for the poor.

The ombudsman said Alega refused to reinstate Castillejo despite a CSC resolution issued on April 17, 2012, which found the MSWDO head guilty only of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. The penalty was also downgraded to suspension for nine months.

The Sandiganbayan agreed with Alega’s defense that when Castillejo demanded his reinstatement, the CSC decision was not yet final.

Alega’s petition before the Court of Appeals (CA) challenging the CSC decision was pending at the time, the court said.

It also noted that when the CA affirmed the CSC ruling, Alega ordered Castillejos’ reinstatement and withdrew his petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court. 

“These circumstances showing good faith on the part of... Alega cast reasonable doubt on his guilt for... open disobedience. It was his honest belief that he had legal justification in refraining to reinstate the complainant,” the Sandiganbayan ruling read.